Veronica LeBeau
by RosaleeElisabeth
Summary: Wolverine believed that he was the end of Project X, but he was wrong. One other, sculpted from his DNA and that of numerous other mutants has come to Logan's attention. Veronica will have to figure out who she is and what side she will choose. Will the X-Men claim her or will the Brotherhood take her in. In the midst of all of this will Veronica's powers destroy her?
1. Chapter 1

"Rony..." There was a whisper in my ear but my body was too stubborn to recognize this gesture; too stubborn to even move. I tried to. I really did, "Veronica!" the eerily familiar voice woke me up.

"Remy...?" I asked the voice in my head groggily, "Go back to sleep." I ordered, lazily swatting my free had at the source of the noise, too tired to care that I missed him every time.

There was a nervous chuckle, which immediately woke my body up. Remy was never unsure when he was laughing. That wasn't his natural contagious laugh that he normally breathed out on all subjects, funny or not. It was something else. Something that scared me more than anything else.

I opened one eye looking up at his silhouette which shadowed his face in the dark room. "Sorry, Sister, but we have to go. It's now or never." There was that nervous tone in his voice again, which snapped me back to reality.

I sat up too quickly. My muscles screaming at me with soreness to lay back down and sleep. My stomach was on fire, sending my hand to try and grasp away the pain. This caused Remy to look down too.

The front of my loose white tank top was stained red, underneath a surgical slice sloppily stitched and I knew why. They had performed another experiment on me the morning before, did what they had to do, and tossed me into this filthy cell, not caring that my wound was already starting to sprout an infection. They didn't care if I or anyone else here lived or died. We were mutants; mistakes, freaks of nature. Here is what they called The Island. No one ever noticed because The Island was disguised as a nuclear power plant. Do you ever see people snooping around highly toxic radiation?

Remy grabbed my shoulders and helped me to my feet. He threw one of my arms over his shoulder and supported my waist with the other arm.

"Where are we going?" I winced.

"To get you outta here, Sister."

Remy and I have been on the island for a year now, and are some of the lucky few who are able to say so. Here, you're just a weapon and if you aren't a class three mutant or higher, well... you get my drift. Let's just say sticks and stones can break your bones but feathers are useless.

"Where are we going?" I straightened up now leaving Remy's support, my heart pumping with newly found adrenalin.

"To get us out of here," Remy smirked as we passed through the door where there were several mutants waiting. One had sparks coming off her fingers, a boy had what looked to be the teeth of a k9 which I caught a glimpse of while he whispered to another boy next to him, and then there were other mutants whose powers weren't as obvious.

"Hi," I stood, leaving my older brothers side. They all looked at me not sure if I was talking to them or not.

"We're leaving... tonight," the one that was previously on vibrate stepped forward, "I'm QuickSilver but you can call me Pietro." The boy gave me a tired smile that I'm sure would have been mistaken as cheeky or flirty but this place had drained him. He too had numerous wounds that had been caused by a scientist getting too curious with a scalpel.

Then a loud siren wailed all around us, "Damn!" Remy cursed under his breath, "Time to go!" he picked a hall to go down and started to run.

We all followed him, me bringing up the back to help the younger ones that were either too small or too tired to keep up. It worked well until a small boy had fallen and twisted his ankle causing Remy to come to the back.

"Go help them in the front. They don't know where to go," my eyes looked back to the group of scared children with Remy's eyes following. We knew what it was like to not know where to go. Our parents died at a young age, leaving my brother and me to fend for ourselves. I knew it would hit close to home for him. He gave me a sharp nod and moved forward.

I pulled the boy up on my back and started to follow the group again.

We had made it to a large set of blue steel doors shining red with a sign that read: faculty exit only. We had made it. Remy and Pietro pushed the doors open with rusty squeaks, holding them for the rest of us. We filed out where there was one of the open door helicopters that were not being watch with luck.

Then we heard a gun go off. It was Striker, one of the head scientists here. He had shot the gun in the air aiming for our attention. He got, "Now," he yelled, a good distance away. Maybe even good enough to give us a chance, "I will give you all a choice. Some of you are too valuable to me, so I'm offering you a chance for redemption. You will quietly and calmly walk back to your cells," he offered, without even the courtesy of calling our cells 'rooms', "or we will be forced to make other... arrangements. Now choose wisely." The way he said arrangements haunted me to the core but I'd rather die for my free than to die in the middle of another experiment.

I leaned over to my brother, "You and I both know that this," I looked around at the other kids and some adults with us, "is a far less bitter fate than what Striker has planned. He'll probably kill most of us just to prove a point. Maybe even torture the ones he lets live." I reasoned to him.

Remy grabbed my hand reassuringly, and stepped forward to face Striker. Immediately after I felt like something was missing. My mother's ring!

"No can do Striker!" Remy yelled, setting a bright red charge to something small in his hand; It was my ring. Tricky bastard. He threw the object which held the force of at least a hundred pounds of dynamite at the officials with guns that stood by Striker. He was creating a diversion. That smart son of a bitch.

I took that window if opportunity to yell, "Everybody run towards the helicopter!" I waited up for Remy who tried to pull the young boy off me to speed up our pace, "Go get that helicopter started. I've got him." Remy nodded and took off.

Now I could hear Striker and his team getting up. Some still down but others had reclaimed their guns and started after us.

Once Remy had gotten the helicopter started and was helping the kids into the back, the team opened fire on us.

The first one to go down on our side was one of the older men who had the ability to climb up walls. He was a class two but that doesn't mean he was totally useless. He could have had a family that needed him and to go out the way he did, shot in the head right in front of my eyes, was a terrible way to go.

Pietro was helping the last woman in when he climbed in after. I had reached the opening to the helicopter with the team close behind and the helicopter hovering an inch or so off the ground. I handed the child up to Pietro who set him down and grabbed my hand to help me in.

A very loud gun shot went off. A few seconds later Pietro was staring down at me in horror. What had happened? Why did everything seem to be moving so slow?

Remy looked back at us, the relief of finally being free melted off his smile to be replaced with a look if sheer horror. Pietro was splattered with blood but when I looked there was no wound on his body. That's when I felt it. A white hot pain shoot through my chest. I looked down at my body, still hanging over the edge of the helicopter only supported by Pietro's arms holding me up. There was a gaping hole right through the middle of my chest, gushing crimson.

I felt Pietro's grip slipping as the helicopter rose higher from the ground, and then I fell.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I know that in my story I have Gambit working at Xavier's school for gifted youngsters already and in the movie he isn't with the X-Men until later but in the comic books and original TV series he was one of the first X-Men and was a teacher there since episode 1. Just to clear it up without confusion. Thanks and keep reading! (BTW Pietro is pronounced as Pee-eh-tro not pie-tro there was confusion that I thought that I would clear up) **

I woke up remembering the dream I had last night. It's the same dream that i've been having since I got out of that hell hole six days ago. I choose not to remember anything else but the fact that I got out. I sat up stretching my sore muscles from where I had been sleeping. I had picked the lock of the shed that was out back of the bar I was at last night and laid on the hay covering it.

I've been alone since I got out. People have seen me on the streets and tried to offer me help but I just can't trust anyone right now. So i've been confined to my own company until I can find my brother.

Some guys at the last bar that I had stopped at to hustle pool for a meal last night told me that they had seen someone that fit my description that I had given them. They told me that there was a school just out of town away where he worked. This must be the wrong guy, I thought to myself, Remy would never be a teacher but I still had to try because he was my brother. I'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

It was about one in the afternoon when I stepped back into the bar to freshen up in the bathroom before I would leave to keep looking for Remy. When I got out I sat back down on a stool at the bar counter. There were a few early drinkers there but other than that it was just the owner opening up for the long night.

There was a biker gang covered in leather and tattoos that had stopped by to grab some lunch and one other man who looked like a very large lumber jack at the bar a few stools away from me. Something about him was different. He had a certain glow to him. Not a 'I'm in love!' glow but a glow that Remy and the rest of the people on the island had. This was one of my powers that Striker had spliced into my DNA. I can sense other mutants.

The bar owner came back to make his rounds and stopped by me, "What can I get you, Sweetheart?" The man tried to flirt with me but I pretended not to notice him. The lumber jack man glanced at me then looked back down at his drink again. "I'll have a beer. What ever you have on tap is fine." He kept looking at me and smiled saying, "Anything for you, honey."

The lone guy at the bar was chewing on a cheap cigar and swirling his drink around in his hand, when the TV said something that caught both our attentions. "The current mutant phenomenon has finally reached a high enough danger level number that the president has given military authorities the permission to enforce cooperation for all mutants to register themselves as mutants no matter how low or high of a class mutant they are." I huffed and the man sitting at the bar eyed me carefully before looking up at the TV screen distastefully.

"Don't you wish the government would do more to get rid of those things. Somebody has to deal with this mutant problem before we get hurt. I mean some of us got children." The bar owner spoke. Damn I wished he knew how to hold his tongue.

"What mutant problem?" I spit towards him with venom in my words.

The biker gang had gotten quite interested in our conversation now and slowly started to migrate over. My hands grew hot, as they got closer. I saw the bar owner reach under the counter he was behind and quickly pull out a shot gun, "Now I don't know what you are but I'm gonna warn ya once. Get outta my bar and we can call it a day."

I realized I was standing now and my fists had been flaming. That's when one of the bikers had grabbed me by the shoulders. I turned around to defend myself which was probably a very bad idea. One of the bigger guys punched me strait in the nose causing me to stumble and fall. I reached to my face and my hand returned with quite a large amount of blood.

Here's where the lumber jack man comes in. He quickly materialized himself in front of me, protecting me. Three long metal claws grew out from his knuckles which he held out in defense, "Now we're both gonna leave. You understand? There's not gonna be any trouble is there?" he spoke gaining nodds from everyone in the room.

He then turned his attention to me, "You alright?" He asked genuinely concerned. I nodded slowly and he grabbed a cloth from behind the counter and offered it to me. I took it graciously and thanked him.

Once we had exited the bar he asked, "So where you headed?"

I liked that he didn't ask me about being a mutant or my powers, "I heard I could find someone there."

"Well who are you looking for?"

"My brother. We got seperated a while back and I heard from some guys that he was holding up there as a teached." I dabbed at my nose while slighty chuckling at the thought of Remy and children.

"Well does your brother got a name?"

"Does Remy LeBeau ring any bells?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well I'll be damned you Gambit's little sister?" he looked at me like I shouldn't exist .

"Who in the hell willingly calls themselves Gambit?" I asked rhetorically.

The man looked at me with sympathy, "Kid look," he looked at me like I was fragil and weak.

"I'm not a kid," I butted in.

"Ok..." he left room for me to fill in the blank.

"Veronica."

"Ok Veronica," he started then stopped himself again, "Remy, well, he doesn't like to talk about his sister a lot."

"Ok..." I looked for answers on his face but didn't get any which meant I'd have to figure them out the old fasion way: ask, "Why are you telling me this?"

"Remy told me his sister died. Three years ago."


	3. Chapter 3

The lumber jack man had introduced himself as Logan. He told me that he also was a teacher at the school just out of town away that the men at the bar had told me about. He offered me a ride there since he had a class to teach in a little over an hour. The had taken a bike into town to get a drink and said that we would both be able to make it back on it.

Logan had pulled into the garage at the school, which seemed too large and full of dangerous vehicles to belong to a school, although I didn't question it. He put down the kick stand and led me around to the front of the school.

The School was brick mostly but the front door was wide with glass all the way from the steps to the roof. Logan held the door open to me and I silently thanked him. Inside there was a argue oak floored room with vases, plants, fireplaces, and old furniture which gave the place a formal but welcoming look. It must have been a grand mansion in its day. It looked clean but when you looked closer you could see scratches on the floor, dents on the wall, and something that looked like scorches on the ceiling. This place had obviously seen a few children in its day. Speaking of children, there were some walking back and forth through a long hallway that intersected through the middle of the room. One girl ran through a closed door, while another walked with a boy that seemed to be around her age, the boy put his hands together and blew into them. When he pulled them apart there was a rose made of ice in his hand. He handed this to the girl and smiled at her. She took it gingerly with gloved hands and hugged him.

Logan noticed this and smiled, "That's my girl." I heard him think. Another present from Striker.

He placed a hand on one of my shoulders and guided me to a large oak door. He pushed it open and stepped in, "Charles." he greeted.

The children sitting in front of the man had all looked at us now and the man dismissed them after he gave them an assignment for their next class with him. They all filled out of the room, with curious glances in my direction.

Once the last student had left the room, Logan closed the door. Charles smiled at me, "You must be Veronica."

"Yes, Sir." I took it shyly.

"You can call me Professor Xavier," he smiled warmly at me, "Logan tells me that you are Remy's sister. Is that right?"

"Yes, S... Professor," I corrected myself.

"Do you mind if I check?" he leaned forward in his wheel chair, "My mutation, you see, gives me the ability to read the mind of whomever I wish, but I won't if you don't want me to."

I agreed knowing that this was the fastest was to gain their trust. The fastest was to see Remy.

I leaned forward, allowing the professor to place his cool fingertips on my warm temples that were still throbbing from my incident earlier this afternoon. All of a sudden I saw my life appear frame by frame in front of my eyes, blocking out the professor's face which I had previously seen. It went faster and faster until suddenly it stopped at a memory that I wish it hadn't have. Project X.

It was me but It wasn't me. I could see myself, but I wasn't mentally me. In front of me I could see the glass box filled with water below the girl on the table that I knew was me. Needles were surrounded me and markers had been placed in the areas which the needles would enter. I was on a metal table above, strapped in.

All of a sudden Striker was walking towards a control panel with a half dozen other scientists in white lab coats. His voice was muffled so I couldn't make out what he was saying to me. Then an oxygen mask was placed over my mouth and nose by a scientist. Striker flipped about two dozen switches before he pressed a lit white button. Slowly, the metal table lowered itself into the water. I squeezed my eyes as tight as I could manage the water cascaded around me. I opened them again once I was fully submerged to find the needles lowering into my skin. I screamed as loud as the oxygen mask would allow me as the needles dug deep into my skin. Black dots clouded my vision as the needles hit my bones. As if that didn't seem bad enough then came the steaming liquid adamantium. It burned me from the inside out. Making my rapid body spasms very violent. I thrashed as the last of the adamantium clung to my skeleton. The needles broke off in my skin, then I blacked out, but my ears were still working. A loud heart beat almost completely drowned out Striker's voice, "Gentlemen, the operation is a success." Thum thump. Thum thump. Thum thump. My own, altered heart beat taunted me.

The memory ended when the professor took away his hands. He slumped back in his seat as I stumbled back and regained my balance with a chair that had previously had a student as its occupant.

Logan steadied me and looked from me to the professor, "Professor," he started but the professor interrupted him.

"Everything's alright Logan. Can you go get Remy, and both of you meet us in the infirmary. He's in the danger room. Have Scott take over his class. Hurry now."

Logan helped me get straitened out and steadied. That had taken a lot out of me. My knees were wobbling and my palms were sweaty. After he looked at us once more he nodded slowly and jogged out of the room.

"Follow me." the professor ordered but not harshly, "We need to look at the extent of damage your mutation is causing your body."

"What?" I asked, afraid of what he meant.

"You do not posses the power to heal. That metal is highly toxic, so in hindsight it is slowly poisoning you. We need to figure out if there is any way to prevent this."

I looked at him mortified. He returned it with a pitiful smile, "No need to worry Jean is the best medic we have. You will be fine."

I knew this smile it was a smile that said, 'I'm sorry but your'e screwed.'

Like I didn't know this already.

I just couldn't catch a break. Could I?


	4. Chapter 4

After being laid on my back and pushed into a tube like machine with blinding white lights that flashed individually left to right, I was told to sit on the cold metal examining table. I tried not to hyperventilate when they were all surrounding a woman with bright red hair that was poking my skin with needles and drawing blood. While doing so I felt the same slight pressure inside my head as I did earlier when the professor was reading my mind. I put up barriers and blocked him out. I couldn't have him in my head after what had happened earlier. After that he just looked at me with slightly widened eyes for the rest of the time before they all had left me alone to analyze the results. This included a man with sunglasses that had red lenses, a woman with long white hair and darker caramel skin, the red headed woman, and of course the professor.

This is when I lost it my chest felt like it was being compressed by a car, my head was spinning, my breathing quickened and burned with every lung full, and my body shook uncontrollably. I knew that I was safe here but the thought of Striker bursting through that door with his team of scientists kept my body on edge.

I pulled my legs up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them and resting my chin on my knees. This was my defense strategy when I was on the island. After they played with their scalpels and were done with me, they would toss me in a dirty cell and I would assume this position until the next procedure.

I was ready to release all my powers at will. Although deep down I knew Striker wouldn't find me, at least not yet, I was ready all the same.

Just then the door handle turned slowly, causing me to jump up and onto the floor. My fists flamed up and my knees bent, ready to lung at Striker's throat when he came in.

The door cracked open and I heard Logan's voice, "Hey kid, we're coming in, so don't light us on fire alright."

I still didn't lower my guard. Striker was tricky. It wouldn't be the first time he has used the voices of people I knew to influence me.

Logan walked in first followed by a person that I though I'd never have the privilege to cross paths with again.

Looking down at a deck of playing cards that he was shuffling back and forth in his hands was my brother. Remy loves cards, 'Its like havin fifty two little explosives in your pocket' as he put it. I could hear him say it every time someone would ask him why he threw cards in the same Cajun accent that we both share.

He hadn't looked up at me yet until Logan elbowed him to catch his attention. I straitened out when Remy's eyes lazily looked up and back down.

Realizing what he'd just seen he dropped his deck of cards and his eyes darted back up, "What the hell kind of sick joke is this?" Remy backed up a step.

My heart broke into a million pieces. He probably was glad to have gotten rid of me. He didn't want me back. With me gone he had a life. Oh no! What did I do. I was ruining his life coming here.

"Gambit, what do mean. It's your sister, right?" Logan looked at me suspiciously.

Remy shook his head, "You died," he pointed at me, "I saw you get shot through the chest. You can't be here!" Remy began to panic.

I slowly walked forward trying not to spook him anymore, "He brought me back. Remy, you know he can do that, but I got out. It's me," I remembered the way Remy and I could prove to each other that we weren't a copy by made by a shapeshifting mutant or a projection, "Look!"

I held out my left wrist for him to see. He cautiously looked, seeing three vertical lines with one horizontal line going through them burned into the soft skin on my arm. He slowly pulled up his left sleeve showing a similar mark.

Remy let his sleeve fall and pulled me into a hug, "I thought he had killed you," his eyes turned red and threatened him with tears, "If I had known you were alive then I would have came after you. I'm so sorry. Im..."

"Stop," I cut him off, "There was no way you could have known."

I didn't say anything, and neither did he. There was nothing to say. We just enjoyed each other's embrace again.

I vaguely recall the red headed girl coming in and getting Logan. After that Remy led me to a main room with kids running around. He talked about things at the school, the X-Men and how he was one, and a woman named Rogue who he thought quite fondly of but 'wasn't' in relations with.

We stayed talking until it grew dark and far after the last person had left the room.

********third person when Remy and Rony were talking***********

Logan had followed Jean into a room with his X-rays on a lit up wall. The professor, Storm, and Cyclops were studying and discussing the images.

"What's wrong?" Logan asked generally, not directing his question towards a specific person.

"Veronica." the professor spoke like Logan should understand what he meant.

"Care to elaborate?"

"We X-rayed her."

"And where are they?" Logan felt as if they were trying to hide something from him and his assumption was correct.

"On the wall," Jean whispered afraid of what Logan's next actions would be.

Logan turned back toward the X-rays on the wall. They looked exactly like his. Adamantium covered the skeleton and three claws hid throughout each of the wrist and forearm.

Logan's face burned with anger. Memories of William Striker flooded his thoughts. All he could see was red before as he lost it. He let his claws abruptly shoot out. He then released a loud raspy yell and stabbed through the X-ray printings on the wall with all six of his claws.

He then turned and walked out making his way to the garage before he stole Cyclops's motor cycle and took off in attempt to clear his head. Or not clear his head. Whichever it was he needed air, and fast before he let his anger consume him more than it already had. God help whoever got in his way when it did.


	5. Chapter 5

Remy had made arrangements for the professor to have me stay in one of their open rooms. I wasn't sure how long they would allow me to stay but I didn't ask. The professor didn't push the subject, in fact he didn't seem to even think of it, a fact that I was very grateful for. The professor was even kind enough to allow me a room next door to Remy's.

The room was nice; nicer than anything that I've ever stayed in. Once you entered through the small wooden door there was a bathroom to your right side. Past the bathroom, there was a small sitting area with a couch facing a TV, a small refrigerator, a coffee table in front of the couch, and a writers desk with a lamp and an office chair. Connected to this sitting area was the bedroom. The room had a queen bed with dark gray sheets and white pillows that went strangely well with the light gray painted walls and ashy carpets. The room was dark but in an inviting way. It was perfect for me.

That first night I was exhausted so sleep came easily at first. My dreams switched from happy times as a child with Remy before our parents had left us, to a memory of Project X. This was the same memory that the professor had stumbled upon earlier this afternoon. I woke up with a jump right before the memory ended. Sweat caused my dark hair to stick to the side of my face and my back where my tank top didn't cover. I would have showered if I hadn't just before I slept. Instead I did what I would always do in these situation, which happened a lot even before we were taken to the island. I got up wrapping the thick comforter around my shoulders, and headed next door.

I knocked twice before I finally grew inpatient enough to pull out two of the bobby pins that unsuccessfully held my hair out of my face, and work at the lock. After less than a minute I got the lock to click and I quietly pushed the door open. Remy had taught me how to pick locks, and I guess it's a pretty handy talent.

I walked through the room that was identical to mine, but with a a flare of Remy added to it. There were playing cards scattered everywhere on the ground and some sticking out of targets that were put up on the wall. Clothes and torn out shoes scattered the floor. Typical Remy. He won't get rid of shoes. He never wears them after they rip but he swears he still does.

I came up to Remy sleeping. At least I think it is him. It was hard to tell through the mess of limbs, sheets, and tufts of hair that scattered that poor bed. I laughed to myself as the pile on the bed snored, tossed, and twisted every which way.

"Remy..." I whispered as to not rudely wake him up, "Remy?" I asked again slightly shaking his twisted figure, "Remy!" I said now, not in a shout but in a normal voice.

He sharply sat up with a quiet gasp, eyes wide. When he spied me he slumped his shoulders, the lazy tired look returning to his face, "Chere, you scare me, coming in at this time. What keeps you up?" he asked truly concerned.

This caught me off guard, causing my voice to crack before I could get out a single word. Remy noticed this and rubbed the tired out of his eyes, "You been havin' dreams again, haven't you, mon amie?" I nodded slowly, looking down, "You safe here. You got away and I'm here. Notin' can hurt you now," he offered a slight smile. I always had nightmares, even before the island, so Remy was used to me coming in at night.

I nodded again as he took a piece of hair from the mess on my head, "You need a trim, mon amie," he looked over to the sitting room, "I will clear the couch. You can stay in here tonight, but t'morrow... " he smiled, "we train."

"Sounds good," I smiled as he swept the cards off the couch and threw a spare blanket over. His accent was stronger than mine, which had almost completely subsided since I left home with Remy. He sounded somewhat different so I assumed he had went back home after we were separated, "Remy?" I asked quietly.

He responded with a, "Hmm?"

"Did you go back home? I mean after we were..." I had trouble wording the last part, "separated?"

"Yeah..." he looked down, "I had no where else, no one else." he said sadly, but then cheered up a bit, "So I decided a lil' Mardi Gras and gumbo don't hurt no one!"

I smiled as he perked up, "Thanks... Gambit." I smirked.

"Don't knock it, chere, Gambit be a very respected title 'round here." Remy smiled triumphantly, "That reminds me. What you call yourselves now?"

"Veronica...?" I offered then smiled, "Rony if you're lucky."

Remy just looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "We work on that after trainin'."

With that Remy walked over to the foot of his bed and plopped on top of it, face first. I laughed as he threw me a pillow without moving from his original position.

"Night Remy." I mumbled, situating my pillow.

Remy's voice was muffled from the blankets, "Good night, mon amie."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Mornin' chere!" was the first thing I heard after Remy drew away the thick curtains, allowing the blinding light from the sun stream in on my face.

"Ten minutes." I grunted, pulling the thick comforter over my head to block out the light. I didn't have the comforter when I went to sleep so I assumed it was Remy who put it there.

"No can do, sister." Remy chuckled. He was freshly showered and dressed, ready to go.

"Fine." I grumbled.

I walked over to my room groggily. My first stop is a hot shower to wake me up. I walked into the bathroom, and turned the water on as hot as it could go.

Next I walked to the bedroom to get clothes for the day. The professor told me he had left some clothes in the dresser for me until I had gotten some of my own. I searched the dresser for something that I could train in, and returned with a matching dark gray outfit. My training suit consisted of running tights that cut off at mid calf, a tank top, and a hoodie sweat shirt with black tennis shoes.

I set them on the bed and headed to the shower.

After washing up I stepped out and wrapped a towel around me. I dried off and got dressed in my bedroom.

I sat on the bed tying my shoes when there was a slight knock on the door, "Come on in." I said too busy with my laces to look up when Remy stepped into the room.

"Shall we?" Remy motioned his hands to the door.

"Yup!" I stood up, actually excited to see what Remy could do.

He led the way to an elevator that took us to a basement and saying that it looked strange wouldn't cover it. There were long hallways that led to rooms all along the walls. The doors were each shaped as an 'X'.

Remy led me into one of these doors that was a bit larger than the rest. Inside there was a large white empty room. Kids were inside training. Machines came from the walls, floor, and ceiling.

A wide assortment of powers were gathered in this room. All of them working together. Until Remy pushed a button on the wall that shut down the whole system.

"Well, I see you all started wit' out me." Remy said loudly catching all the students' attention, "Now, Gambit's gotta surprise for you."

They all looked around at each other and whispered.

"You got the hour off," some of the children cheered while while others let out various 'ahhs' , "I gotta student to train. One on one. If ya wanna stay then I expect you in the observation room," Remy pointed up to a windowed off room that overlooked the room, "Alright have a good day children. You Dismissed."

The children all ran out of the room and a few seconds later a fraction of them were in the observation room.

"Iceman!" Remy yelled up, "Set it to session 582, would you?"

A few seconds passed before the boy at the controls stopped typing and put his thumbs up at Remy, "Good to go, Gambit!" he shouted happily.

"Alright, sister," Remy spoke to me now, "let's see what you got."

Just then more machines came out of the walls but they didn't attack. Instead they projected things. It looked weird at first but then the whole room turned into a forest.

All of a sudden Remy came out of some tall bushes, "You like? Impressive this place is. Now..." he smiled evilly, "we train."

He jumped up, higher than I've ever seen him do before and grab onto a tree limb. He climbed higher before he stopped, "Lesson number one. Let's begin."

With that he held up something in his hand. I just stood there squinting at it before I realized what it was. As he threw the card at me I jumped to my left. I rolled out of the way as it exploded, pushing me farther away. I smiled to myself. I missed training with Remy.

He came closer as I held my hands out in defense, "You haven't gotten rusty on me, have you, chere?"

"Not at all," I smirked, "I just thought I'd give you a chance, first."

"Well then pick a card," he sarcastically returned my smirk, "any card." With that he threw three more cards.

I didn't move but instead let the heat in my hands flame up. I stuck out my hands and shot out three small fire balls that consumed the cards in the air midway to me.

"Very good," Remy purred.

But I didn't stop there. My hands cooled off. A lot actually until I was ably to touch the ground and freeze Remy's shoes to the dirt below him. When he tried to step forward he fell.

I just about doubled over laughing when he whined like a little girl about my unfair fighting techniques.

"Alright. Alright." I let go of my powers, releasing him.

My eyes were watering with laughter, so I didn't expect him to come at me with his bo staff.

He swung down knocking my feet out from under me. He grabbed the staff with both hands and held it across my collar bone, "Never take your eyes off your opponent."

I smiled, realizing he didn't know what I could do. I kept that smile on my face as I phased through the floor, and phasing back up behind him.

"Never take your eyes off your opponent." I mocked him.

"How in the hell..." Remy was too taken back in shock to finish his sentence.

"Did I do that?" I finished for him. He only new about the powers that I was born with. The ability to control the four elements. Fire, earth, water, and air. He had no clue what Striker added for his own amusement. I mean I had to tell him somehow. At least like this I didn't have to explain anything, "Striker got bored." I said sadly when the memories came flooding back in.

"Bobby!" Remy yelled, keeping his eyes glued to me, "Turn off the simulation!"

The whole thing powered down and Remy stood up in the once again empty room, "Follow me," he ordered, but not harshly, more in a sad way.

"Where are we going?" I asked trying to keep up with his long hurried strides.

"We need to see the professor. Now!"


	6. Chapter 6

"You knew 'bout this!" Remy had grown upset, for when he brought up the subject of my new powers to the professor, he already had known.

"Of course, Remy," the professor sighed, "I had looked into her memory when she arrived to confirm that she was telling the truth about who she was. I found it but I also had ventured too far."

"What you mean, 'ventured too far'?" Remy mocked the professor's tone.

"I saw what happened to her after Striker had lost all his test subjects. After she and you had made your big escape. She was the only one left for Striker to preform his tests on. Every test which was supposed to be divided amongst all of you who had made your way out was performed on her alone."

"Yeah," I butted in, getting sick and tired of being a subject of topic instead of a person, "I'm still here, guys."

The two just looked back from the professor's desk in the front to me leaning against the back corner of the room, "I'm sorry Remy," the professor still ignored me.

"Well, is there anyway to..." Remy stopped, searching for words.

"Anyway to what?" I stepped in, "Fix me? What's done is done you can't take out what is part of me. No matter how much you try you can't fix me Remy! I'm broken and this time no one can put me back together!" now I was getting angry at the two. They wanted me back the way I was, but they didn't seem to get it. I was messed up beyond repair, "I guess I'm not the right kind of freak to live with!"

I ran out of the room, down the hallway until I reached the front room, and out the front door. I passed the path up to the mansion and kept going. I could have used my powers to go far away fast but the cold air was clearing my thoughts.

I stopped at the edge of town. There were a few older houses and a beat up boarding school that was converted to a living area. I wasn't sure how long it had been but I just sat there on a large rock in an empty lot across from the old boarding school.

Ants were crawling around by my feet attempting to pick up a large apple core that sat, rotting on the ground. I can do that, I thought, lift a couple thousand times my body weight. But that's normal for ants. For mutants? I was a freak amongst freaks.

I felt my mind strain when I telekinetically lifted rocks and tossed then at a pond no too far away. I really could care less if a human saw me, but my problem wasn't humans.

There was a snap of a twig before I turned. As I caught a glimpse of a very large man with a blonde mohawk, My head was hit with something that felt like a rock. I fell back of the large stone I was sitting on and looked around fuzzily. I saw a skinny boy with greenish skin and dirty blonde almost brown hair holding a rock. It was probably the one that hit me. Then I looked the other way and saw the big man with the mohawk start to pick me up bridal style. The last thing I saw was the old boarding school door open and me being carried through before the ringing in my ears became unbearable and the black and white spots in my vision totally engulfed my eyes.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

I rolled over holding my head, before my memory returned on how I can to be here. I shot up quickly; not one of my best ideas. I felt dizzy again and reached up to the wound on my temple. The skin was deeply spilt and needed stitches. When my hand returned it was dripping with blood. I turned around to look at where my head had laid. I was on a large bed with stained cream bedding. The worst stain was fresh. The pillow was soaked in crimson, it was blood, my blood.

The room that I was in was on the top floor because of the slant of the ceiling. The wood floors were worn and the walls were cracked and stained. The only thing in the room was the bed and a side table with a lamp that didn't work when I tried.

Then I heard speaking coming from the other side of the door:

"You did what!" I heard a first voice say.

"Well, ya told us to recruit as many mutants as we could could." a second slower deep voice spoke.

"Yeah boss." the third voice was higher than the rest.

"Yeah, take then in." The first voice spoke again.

"We did," the third high voice spoke.

"We just hit her with a rock first." the slow deep voice said.

"Ok. ok! Let's see her. What can she do?" the first voice spoke.

I felt my head spinning as I heard them walk towards the door. I saw the doorknob turn.

The second slow voice spoke now, "She can... uh... she was throwing rocks when we found her."

The door knob stopped turning, "She... was throwing... rocks!" the first voice was angry.

"With her mind boss." the third voice said.

There was a pause then the first voice spoke, "Boys, let's go meet our new house guest."

The door opened and my head began to spin even faster than ever. I recognized the two men that had taken me here. In front of them was a thinner man with slicked back white hair and a familiar face.

"Veronica?" the man looked at me with complete shock.

That's when I remembered where I had recognized him from.

"Pietro?" I whispered.

Then the pain and dizziness in my head over took me and I slipped back into unconsciousness.


End file.
